Kathryn Gahl & Nathan Reid

Thursday, November 16 - 5:30 PM

Kathryn Gahl & Nathan Reid

Kathryn Gahl is a writer, dancer, and registered nurse. Born to an Irish nurse and German farmer, she grew up with seven siblings in a farmhouse located at the end of a half-mile gravel drive. She earned a B.S. in English at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a B.S. in Nursing at Syracuse University (NY). After 25 years in nursing and nursing management, she became a full-time writer, studying at Bread Loaf, Stonecoast, Sewanee, Iowa Writers’ Workshop Fiction Intensive, Iowa Summer Festival, Vermont College, and Taos.

Her poems and stories are widely published in small journals, including Eclipse, Hawaii Pacific Review, Permafrost, Porcupine Literary Arts Magazine, and Willow Review. Twice a Glimmer Train finalist, she received honorable mention from The Council of Wisconsin Writers andWisconsin People & Ideas. Margie named her a finalist for the Marjorie J. Wilson Award. Other finalist awards include poetry at Lumina and Chautauqua , the Arthur Edelstein Prize for Short Fiction, the William Richey Short Story Winner, and the Flash Fiction finalist at Talking Writing .

for the eighth-grade girl writing love lyrics

There is a line you will cross

in the ninth grade or the tenth

quick slip of judgment, addling after

The Boyboy you wrote about in eighth grade. That

boy or a different boy will stir you if you

let him tell you what you want to believe. Study his

rhythms and those of the agent, coach, or music

marketer telling you how to dress, who you ought

to be between the measures before your body

becomes someone else's body

not the bright-eyed blessed and

testy one you need for your first album

and all the ones thereafter

-- Kathryn Gahl

Nathan J. Reid is a poet and spoken word artist whose work has appeared in several journals, including the Penguin Review, Fox Cry Review, and Binnacle. He has a background in theatre and regularly performs his poetry at art events throughout Wisconsin. His chapbook, Thoughts on Tonight, was published this year by Finishing Line Press. He currently lives in Madison with his partner, Ashley, and their endless supply of books.